A generally accepted principle is that conservation of natural resources is important. These resources include water, fuel sources, air quality, land space, and the like, many of which are non-renewable and therefore very valuable. A major commodity whose production can depend upon employment and/or destruction of one or more natural resources is electricity. This valuable asset powers thousands of devices throughout the world as daily activities proceed, many times without user concern about resource neglect. In a typical home, for instance, electricity is available for operating a myriad of appliances, audio and video equipment, and a host of miscellaneous apparatus.
Chief among the electricity users are television sets singly, and more often plurally, present in every home. Thus, for example, one home may have a set in the living room, one or more sets in bedrooms, and a set in a recreation room or den. Especially where a plurality of sets are in a residence, typically more than one set is turned on and then left on, even when the viewer has left the room. While one such neglected and operating set causes hardly a measurable impact on electricity or resource use, millions of such neglected and operating sets significantly impact natural resource reserves associated with electricity production, land fill contributions due to premature set malfunctions, environmental pollution due to increased manufacturing in connection with the replacement of inoperative sets, and the like. Consequently, it is apparent that widespread television operation control can accomplish significant conservation by simply shutting down television sets that are not being viewed.
In accord with the above considerations, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a viewer-presence sensor unit for controlling operation of a television set and for terminating power to the television set when a viewer is not present.
Another object of the invention is to provide a viewer-presence sensor unit for controlling operation of a television set wherein the detector for sensing presence of a living being near the set is a motion or heat sensor.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a viewer-presence sensor unit for controlling operation of a television set wherein a timer associated therewith terminates power to the set upon reaching a set time period during which no viewer presence is detected.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent throughout the description thereof which now follows.